House Panel Hits Former Justice Aides

December 06, 1985|By United Press International.

WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee Thursday released a 1,200-page report accusing former Justice Department lawyers of misconduct in the withholding of EPA files from Congress in 1983 and urged appointment of a special counsel to consider prosecutions.

The panel voted 22-13, largely along party lines, to release the report on the secret, 2 1/2-year staff investigation.

It then voted to ask Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese to seek appointment of an independent counsel to review the allegations including charges that former top Justice Department officials and deputy White House counsel Richard Hauser misled House committees and a federal judge.

A Justice Department spokesman said the report ``can be questioned on grounds of fairness.``

The White House declined immediate comment.

The report says that in urging the files be withheld, Justice Department officials apparently were aware they contained evidence of wrongdoing. In the controversy that followed eventual release of the files in a settlement in March 1983, 22 EPA officials left office amid allegations of political manipulation of toxic waste cleanups, conflicts of interest and sweetheart deals with industry.

Release of the report came after several hours of unsuccessful efforts by Republican committee members to amend the document to eliminate its conclusions and label the findings as those of the staff, not the committee.

The report names nearly a dozen former Justice Department officials and implicates several with possible improprieties. Several of these officials, the report said, falsely certified they had reviewed EPA files and found no evidence of wrongdoing before urging Reagan to assert ``executive privilege`` in response to congressional subpoenas.

It concludes that Justice Department officials never consulted EPA chief Anne Burford before advising Reagan she supported the recommendation.

Burford, who became the first Cabinet member ever cited for criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to release the files, repeatedly opposed the assertion of privilege, urged that any evidence of misconduct be turned over to Congress and sought to remove herself from any constitutional

confrontation, it says.

The report raises questions about the possible roles of former Atty Gen. William French Smith, his deputy, Edward Schmults, and several top department officials in blocking release of information needed for the Judiciary inquiry. In March 1983, it said, the evidence suggests former assistant Atty. Gen. Ted Olson received instructions from Smith and Schmults ``to be evasive on at least one key element of his testimony`` to a Judiciary subcommittee.